Valley of Shadows II

The night hadn't ended when the caravan reached the entrance to the Valley of the Second Shadows. The valley looked like a dark mouth swallowing the wind, and the black rocks stood like distorted fingers in the fading moonlight. Eren felt something heavy in the air, as if the ash here wasn't just remnants, but alive, breathing in the silence.

Rain stood beside Eren and said in a low voice, "There's something different here... The shadows here don't move randomly like before."

Eren replied, staring deep into the darkness, "This place is connected to the Greater Ash... I can feel its breath here."

Lylin lit a small fire in her palm, lighting the way ahead, saying, "Then let's finish this here, before it gets any stronger."

The party entered the valley cautiously, the wind swirling around their feet, revealing the blackened remains of bones and ash piled up among the rocks. Every step seemed to awaken the shadows from their slumber, as faint sounds began to rise from the depths, like the groans of imprisoned souls.

Suddenly, shadows spread out from among the rocks. They didn't attack randomly, but moved in rows, gathering around a central point in the middle of the valley, where a massive black stone pulsated with a faint red light.

Myra whispered in surprise, "What is this...? Is it... the Heart of the Shadows?"

Eren approached slowly, the wind whipping around his body, his face covered in sweat despite the cold night. He sensed something behind the stone, a distant echo of a deep voice saying, "I... the Ashes... awaiting my return..."

Eren raised his hand, and the wind enveloped the stone, revealing the threads of shadows connected to it like vessels, transmitting a strange energy feeding from the earth. At that moment, Eren realized that the shadows here were directly connected to the Greater Ashes, and that this place was not just a nest of shadows, but a focal point for the darkness to once again expand into the land.

Leylin shouted, gathering her fire around the stone:

We must destroy it now!

But before she could move, the shadow exploded around the stone, forming a massive black hand that tried to grab Leylin. Eren sped up, unleashing his wind like a spear cutting through the air, piercing the shadows and freeing Leylin. He turned to everyone and said:

Watch each other's backs... they are coming!

Out of the shadows emerged black spider-like creatures with red eyes and bodies like a solid mist, trying to stop them from reaching the stone. A battle raged in the middle of the valley, Leylin's fire drawing lines of blue light that burned through the shadows, while Eren's winds tore them apart from within.

Eren approached the stone and heard the voice again:

"When the light falls... the Greater Ash will return..."

He closed his eyes, focused his energy, and gathered the wind around his hand until it glowed white, then struck the stone with all his might. The valley shook, the stone exploded into shards, and a column of black smoke rose into the sky before being swallowed by the night winds.

The shadows suddenly faded, as if something had been ripped from them, and silence fell over the place. Leylin took a deep breath, extinguished her fire, and looked at the scattered ash. "Is it over here...?" she asked, looking at the scattered ash.

Eren shook his head slowly. "No... this is just a small part of the Greater Ash's power... but now we know how to fight it."

He turned to the team, raised the Wind and Fire Banner in the air, and said in a clear voice:

We will break the roots of the shadows one by one... until there is no more ash left in this land.

As the winds blew, Eren turned his back on the dark valley, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the Third Valley awaited, and a new era of struggle against the Greater Ash was about to begin.